Rainy Day, Empty Condos, and a Protest Few Can Attend

🌧️ Rainy Day, Empty Condos, and a Protest Few Can Attend

By Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita

It’s a cold, rainy, miserable day in BC — the kind of day where your bones feel the dampness, and your heart feels heavy too. I’m thinking about all the people out there without shelter. The ones walking through puddles with no dry place to go. The ones trying to stay warm under awnings or bus stops. The ones with nowhere safe to sleep tonight.

Today was supposed to be a protest in Victoria. People were planning to gather, raise their voices, demand change. But this weather will keep many away. Especially those with disabilities, chronic illnesses, or no means to get there.

And the irony? This is exactly what we're fighting for. A right to live with dignity. A place to call home.

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🏚️ From $630 to Couchsurfing: My Story

I used to live in a modest apartment in Vancouver. In 1997, rent was $630.
By 2003, it jumped to $825.
In 2007, $900.
And when I moved across the street in 2019? $1,414.

I haven’t been able to afford a place here since.

I rented in Mexico for a time. I stayed with my sister for a year. Now I’m couchsurfing — like so many others pushed out by rising rents, renovictions, and a system that values profit over people.

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🏗️ Renovictions: Legal Theft

This week, a Hamilton landlord was fined $100,000 for illegal renovictions — displacing tenants under the guise of repairs, only to jack up rents afterward. The court acknowledged the “devastating” impact.

But in BC, this has happened for decades — both discreetly and out in the open. In my building, the renovations kept coming, tenants kept leaving, and the rents kept rising.

Where is our justice?

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🏙️ 2,000 Empty Condos, and Social Assistance Can't Cover Rent

We have over 2,000 empty condos in this city, yet people sleep in doorways. The shelter portion of social assistance is $375 — not even enough for a single room, unless you’re in a derelict SRO not fit for any living being.

Is this not a crime against humanity?

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💔 This Isn't Just Bad Policy — It's Cruel

We’ve allowed housing to become a commodity, not a human right. The result? Generations of people priced out, displaced, or left to fend for themselves in the cold.

And when a protest comes — the one day people try to speak out — the weather reminds us just how vulnerable we really are.

So even if no one shows up in Victoria today, we still need to speak out.

I see you. I hear you. I am you.

We won’t be silent. Not today. Not ever.

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✊🏽 What You Can Do:

• Share your story. Online, in letters, at community meetings.
• Support or join tenant unions and housing advocates.
• Demand real action: Vacancy control, livable assistance rates, social housing, and empty home penalties.
• Speak for those who can’t make it to protests — because their voice matters too.

Stay dry. Stay safe. Stay strong.

—
Tina Winterlik aka Zipolita

#HousingCrisis #BCPoli #EndRenovictions #RaiseTheRates #AffordableHousing #DignityForAll #Zipolita #TenantRights #HomelessnessCrisis #ActivismMatters